1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer networks and, in particular, to registration of web sites with multiple search engines on a network such as the world-wide web.
2. Description of the Related Art
In computer network systems such as local-area networks ("LANs"), wide-area networks ("WANs"), and the Internet and the world wide web ("WWW") which operates thereon, large numbers of servers are established on nodes of the network. Such servers are used for many purposes. For example, such servers may be WWW hyper text transport protocol ("HTTP") compatible servers that serve information through the use of web pages to users (often known as browsers) using other servers on the network. A server is typically an application running on a computer-based processor, that provides for access to and communication over the network.
The WWW is a distributed set of machines and applications, characterized by a set of protocols operating on top of the backbone of the Internet, and allows a graphical interface system to operate thereon for accessing information through the Internet. The WWW's protocol, WWW HTTP, runs on top of the Internet's transmission control protocol/Internet protocol ("TCP/IP").
Web sites (also known as web pages or home pages) on the WWW are typically built using the hyper-text markup language ("HTML"), which allows uniform resource locators ("URLs") to be embedded into the script that is used to build pages of such sites. URLs are unique addresses for servers (or for web pages running on servers) on the network, which provide a complete HTTP resource path. URLs thus serve as hypertext links that a browser of the page may select to access further web pages, either on the same server or on other servers of the WWW.
A web browser is an application running on a node of a network that, in WWW-compatible type network systems, allows users of a particular server to view available information and thus allows the user to search graphical and text-based files that are linked together using hypertext links embedded in documents or files. Such documents are typically available from servers on the network that understand HTTP. When a given web page of a server is retrieved by a user using another server, the document retrieved may have various hypertext links embedded therein and a local copy of the page is created local to the retrieving user. Thus, when the user clicks on a hypertext link, the locally-stored information related to the selected hypertext link is typically sufficient to allow the user's machine to open a connection across the Internet to the server indicated by the hypertext link and its associated URL.
For one user of a server of a network to be able to access other servers of the network, the other servers' addresses, which are URLs, must be known. In particular, to be able to access or browse an existing web site, a user must know of the site's existence and URL. One of the problems that has arisen related to use of the WWW is the location of information and web sites of interest. Because of the vast size and decentralized nature of the Internet and WWW, it can be difficult to locate web sites relating to a particular subject, or to learn of their existence.
In response to this problem, various web sites contain servers with search engines that allow browsers to search for various locations on the WWW that are related to particular subjects of interest to the user. Some current search engines include Yahoo|.TM. and AltaVista.TM., whose URLs are, respectively: "www.yahoo.com" and "www.altavista.digital.com". A typical search engine may present data in, for example, a hierarchical, organized way; with an index or table of contents; or in response to a search query containing various keywords. These and other ways of providing information to the browser may be considered means for providing for a user to search for web sites of interest on the WWW. These search engines typically maintain a large database with information matching various web sites to various subjects or associated topics. Thus, the database may be searched by keyword or presented in other organized ways to users.
Because of the decentralized nature of the Internet and WWW, and because new sites may be added at any time, it can be difficult for search engines to develop and maintain an accurate, up-to-date database of existing web sites. For this reason, many search engines allow web sites to be "registered" with the search engine. The more web sites that register with the search engine, the more attractive the search engine becomes to potential users. Conversely, a web site owner also has an interest in being registered with as many search engines as possible.
For example, for the Great Chips company to register its web site, "www.great.sub.-- chips.com", with the Nifty Search Engine company, having an URL of "www.nifty.sub.-- search.sub.-- engine.com", the great chips.com web site manager can provide information characterizing the web site to Nifty Search Engine, which can then add this information to its database. Users subsequently using the Nifty Search Engine can be made aware of Great Chips' web site in response to an appropriate search query, for instance.
A web site may be registered with a given search engine, typically, by supplying various pre-defined types of information characterizing their web site. For example, there may be name-value fields for a company's name, address, contact information, web site name, description field, and the like. For each web site registered, one or more descriptions can typically be selected from a pre-defined list of categories and/or subcategories defined for each search engine, such as "entertainment," "entertainment: video games," "engineering," "books," "hobbies: beads," "hobbies: magic," and the like. The proper selection from these categories and other information entered in various fields helps a search engine locate the web site in response to queries, or otherwise helps the search engine to properly categorize the web site.
Site managers or owners are often interested in registering their web sites with a large number of search engines to maximize the visibility of their web site to those using search engines. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to maintain an up-to-date, accurate registration with a large number of search engines, for a variety of reasons. There are currently estimated to be hundreds of search engines on the Internet. Each search engine typically has a unique data format, as well as a unique method of registering. For example, some search engines require registration by a user filling out an HTML form accessed from the search engine's web site, whereas some require registration by emailing a specially-formatted email message to the search engine at its email address. Further, the number and type of information fields and pre-defined categories can be different from one search engine to another. Thus, it can be difficult for a web site to be registered with a large number of search engines due to their large number, differences in the registration process, and differences in the types of information needed for registration with a particular search engine.
Additionally, new search engines can be added, and established search engines can change their registration or database format, requiring further registration or re-registration. Finally, aspects of the web site itself may change or require different emphasis in the way it is registered with search engines, which can require re-registering with all currently-registered search engines as well as registering with additional search engines.
One additional problem is that users may be relatively new to computer applications and may have difficulty registering with a strangely-formatted registration page of a search engine, or with learning to register with multiple search engines.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to overcome the disadvantages and drawbacks of the known art and to provide improved methods and apparatuses for registering web sites with search engines.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.